I’ve almost been in Torino for two week, and it already feels like a lifetime. I’ve easily grown accustomed to the habits of the local people and I’m proud to say I can get almost anywhere (by walking mind you- people generally don’t use cars or anything here unless they are going to the complete other side of town because everything you need is so close) without having to look at the map. It’s sad to think that I only have about 9 more weeks left here… but enough of that.

I spent last weekend in Florence, and it truly made me appreciate the city I chose to study abroad in. Yes, Florence is absolutely beautiful and there are so many things to see but it is such a touristy town. I didn’t feel like I really got to interact with any of the locals and when I tried to speak in the little Italian I know from taking my class here all the people would just talk back to me in English. Torino is so different, it’s like a really authentic experience, many people know English, but many do not and unless you know basic Italian and some of their customs it’s hard to interact.

We visited the Academia Gallery, which among other things holds the Statue of David. He is absolutely breath taking; I literally stared in awe for about 5 minutes. We also walked up the Duomo- I think it is the hardest bit of exercise I had to do in my life… imagine walking up these stairs for literally twenty minutes straight with no break and the closer to the top you got the steeper they got.

I had my first cooking class today, and it’s objective for us is every lesson to learn to create a full Italian meal and learn what wines to pair with the food we eat. We made 4 antipasto’s, 2 pasta dishes, 1 dessert, and got to taste two different kinds of wine. It was absolutely amazing, but I literally ate as much as I normally eat in like three days. The recipes for everything we made were so fresh and simple(I don’t think any had more than 5 or 6 ingredients) and yet they tasted better than anything I’ve ever had in America.

This weekend I’m visiting the Italian Riviera (Genoa, Portofino, and Santa Margherita) as well as Cinque Terre, which I’m super excited about- I can’t wait to try the see food! I’ll make sure to post something about my experiences there.